Bellefonte gymnasts hand St. Marys Area squad first loss

January 13, 2011

Photo submitted
Members of the St. Marys Area gymnastics squad who medaled Wednesday were Megan Longhi, Justin Huey and Molly Eshbach.

By

Jim Mulcahy

The Bellefonte gymnastics squad defeated the St. Marys Area gymnasts by a 130.325 to 122.05 score Wednesday night in a meet held at the St. Marys Area Middle School.
This was the St. Marys Area squadâ€™s first loss of the season.
â€śWe knew coming into this meet we were going to have a hard time trying to keep up with them. They have a lot of club gymnasts we simply cannot compete with,â€ť said St. Marys coach Irene McCandless.
In the vault, Molly Eshbach of the Dutch took first with an 8.70. Her teammate Justin Huey was second with an 8.3750. Third place went to Haley Sinclair of Bellefonte with an 8.3. Taylor Sinclair of Bellefonte was fourth with an 8.2, followed by SMAâ€™s Megan Longhi in fifth with an 8.1. Cyd Frederick of Bellefonte was sixth with an 8.0750, followed by teammate Miranda Boatman with a 7.800. Michaela Sorg of the Dutch was eighth with a 7.800 and Abby Wittman of the Dutch was ninth with a 7.4250. Kylie Purnell of Bellefonte was 10th with a 7.400.
â€śI was pleased we were able to beat them in the vault and came close to them on floor. But our bar and beam routines are definitely weak compared to their bar and beam routines,â€ť noted McCandless.
In the bars, Bellefonteâ€™s Purnell was first with an 8.850 and Taylor Sinclair was second with an 8.6750. Third went to Eshbach with a 7.750. Bellefonte took the next three spots with Haley Sinclair earning a 7.600, Fredericks a 7.550 and Cortney Sinclair a 7.5250. Huey was seventh with a 7.4750, followed by Sorg with a 7.0500, Longhi with a 6.7750 and Wittman with a 6.0250.
Haylie Sinclair won the balance beam with an 8.600, followed by Purnell with an 8.1500. Eshbach took third with a 7.6500, followed by Bellefonteâ€™s Taylor Sinclair with a 7.6250, Cortney Sinclair with a 7.400 and Cyd Fredericks with a 7.400. Mackenzie Neureiter of the Dutch was seventh, followed by teammates Molly Eshbach with a 6.600, Bobbi Fox with a 6.1500 and Michaela Sorg with a 5.7250.
â€śWe struggled quite a bit on beam, which really hurt us, but the kids were able to up their scores on the other three events from their first meet, which I am really pleased with,â€ť said McCandless.
In the floor exercise, Eshbach took first with an 8.6250. Bellefonte took the next three spots: Purnell received an 8.5000, Haley Sinclair an 8.4500 and Fredericks an 8.400. Longhi and Neureiter were fifth and sixth with 8.2750 and 8.2500, respectively. Taylor Sinclair of Bellefonte was seventh, with Sorg taking eighth with a score of 7.8000 and Wittman tied for ninth with a 7.200.
Bellefonte took the top four spots in the all-around, with Kylie Purnell first at 32.9 points, Haley Sinclair second at 32.85 points, Taylor Sinclair third with 32.65 points and Cydnie Fredericks fourth with 30.725 points.
For St. Marys, Molly Eshbach had 31.6750 points, Megan Longhi 30.800 points and Michaela Sorg 28.3750 points.
In exhibition for St. Marys, Bobbi Fox had a 6.05 in vault, Justin Huey a 6.25 in floor, Mackenzie Neureiter a 7.45 in vault and 3.725 in bars, Laurel Pierotti a 2.725 in beam and Abby Wittman a 4.875 in beam.
Medaling for the Dutch were Molly Eshbach, who took a first on vault with 8.7, a third on bars with 7.75, and a first on floor with 8.625; Justin Huey, who took a second on vault with 8.375; and Megan Longhi, who took a third on beam with 7.65.
St. Marys returns to action Saturday when they travel to DuBois for a noon meet with DuBois Area.